


Taste of Her Own Medicine

by feather_aesthetic



Series: Terrible stories I wrote when I was 12 but figured I'd dump on here anyway [4]
Category: The 4400
Genre: Gen, tickle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 20:17:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15589911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feather_aesthetic/pseuds/feather_aesthetic
Summary: When Diana and Maia get in a tickle fight, it's every woman for herself- at least until April joins in.





	Taste of Her Own Medicine

Maia was lying on the couch tiredly as Diana walked towards her on the phone.

"Alright Tom, so what did he say?" Diana sat down on the couch, pulling Maia's feet onto her lap because there wasn't much room. "Alright. I'll be back in the morning. I need to sleep on this. Okay. See you then." She snapped her phone shut and leant back on the couch with a sigh. "How was school, sweetie?”

"It was fine, Mommy. I learned long division today.”

"Oh that's great! How did it go?" Diana started rubbing Maia's feet. Maia yanked her feet from Diana's grasp with a yelp, straightening up. Diana stifled a smile. "Sorry honey. I forgot how ticklish your feet are." Maia turned and lay her head in Diana's lap, curling her face into Diana's stomach and wrapping her arms around her. She shut her eyes, not from tiredness as Diana thought, but to look into the future, to see a man poking Diana, and Diana laughing. She grinned, tightening her grip on Diana's sides. Diana shifted slightly, breathing unsteadied. Maia bit back her own smile, closing her eyes in concentration as she watched the vision again, seeing a particular spot that the man poked over and over again. She moved her finger slightly, locating the point on Diana's side, just below her ribs. Quickly she wiggled her finger in a circular motion, and Diana exploded into giggles, twisting violently towards the side of her Maia was tormenting. Her arm snapped over the spot, so Maia wriggled the fingers on her other hand into Diana's side, and that arm snapped closed too, accompanied by more laughter. Another evil grin, and Maia flexed her fingers as much as Diana's iron grip would allow. Diana tightened her arms further, and Maia turned her head and stared upwards into her mother's eyes.

"Maia. Stop."

"Mommy. Let go." They both narrowed their eyes, resigning themselves to a stalemate. But unlike Maia, whose fingers were trapped underneath her mother's arms, Diana had her arms free from the elbows down. She reached down and stroked one side of Maia's neck. Maia giggled and squished her head against her neck, which left the other side of her neck open for attack. Diana quickly took advantage of this, gently dragging one fingernail across the other side of her neck. Maia giggled harder, turning her head the other way, which left the first side exposed. Diana smiled and continued tickling Maia's neck, who could not escape or protect herself and so started desperately tugging at her fingers. Just as soon as she gave an almighty tug, Diana quickly opened her arms, reaching around and grabbing Maia around the ribs before she could roll off the couch. Diana smiled evilly at her daughter, who was now very much beginning to regret having tormented her mother. She reached over and grabbed Maia's foot, bringing it up behind her and holding it there.

"Wait! I'm sorry-" That was all she could say before Diana stroked the length of her sole. Maia bucked, squealing and squirming for all she was worth. She kicked up her other foot, twisted the ankle that Diana held firmly, even tried rolling off onto the floor, but Diana was holding on too tight. April stumbled out of the other room, rubbing her eyes.

"Could you quiet down, I'm trying to sleep!" She wrinkled her brow. "Di, what are you doing to that poor child?" Diana stopped, but Maia was still laughing.

"Just discipline."

"By tickling her?" April sounded amused.  
"Well I'd like to think I'm not abusing my child." April snorted, leaning down over the back of the couch.

"Looks like your mom could use a taste of her own medicine, huh?" April reached down and squeezed her sister's sides. Diana shrieked, jolting and releasing Maia. Her shriek faded into hysterical laughter as she grabbed April's hands, squishing her fingers together. April laughed disbelievingly. 

"I can't believe it! After all these years, you're still as ticklish as you were when you were like, ten! That is so funny!" Diana gritted her teeth.

"No, it's not," she said, pulling her sister's hands away from her sides and releasing them. Maia pulled herself up into a sitting position and fell back on the couch with a huff of relief. April jumped over the back of the couch and landed in the middle of them in a sitting position, bouncing her sister and her niece. She put her arms around both of them, pulling them close. April tried to poke Diana again, but Diana beat her to it, reaching out as fast as lightning and grabbing April's knee in the special way that used to send her into fits of laughter. April smirked at her.

"I haven't been ticklish in 15 years, sis." Diana raised one eyebrow. Her grip shifted, and April couldn't help but jolt forwards, letting out a gasp. Maia leaned back hard against the arm that April had around her, trapping it between her and the couch. Very slowly, Diana smiled. And then she squeezed April's knee. April exploded into laughter, twisting her leg. She retaliated, massaging Diana's sides as they both giggled hysterically. Maia giggled too, but not from being tickled. She found the turn of events quite funny. After a few minutes, though, she decided to give some help to her mom, who looked like she really needed it; she was rapidly loosing the battle. So she reached out and squeezed April's other knee, poking her ribs at the same time. April whipped around, snatching her arm from torturing Diana and grabbing the hand Maia was using to tickle her ribs.

"Don't," she hissed, face dangerous even as she gasped for breath. Diana grinned, seeing her chance, and ripped April's arm from Maia, pulling it around behind her and trapping it between herself and the couch like Maia had done. Now April was stretched between them, arms unable to move even though she struggled furiously. Her hands stuck out past their backs, and she couldn't reach either of them. Maia held up a hand for a high-five and Diana slapped it. April's eyes widened as they lowered their hands towards her ribs.

"Wait! Please! I'm sorry! I-". That was all the pleading she could do before they dug their wiggling fingers into her ribs. She squealed, long and high pitched, wrenching at their grip. She was unable to escape their torture of her, though she squirmed desperately and kicked her legs. She ran out of air from her squeal, and was soon gasping for breath, laughing hysterically as she struggled. Her eyes were almost slits as she laughed, and tears leaked out of the corners. After almost five minutes of pure torture, Diana let up.

"I think she's had enough," she told Maia. Maia stopped as well, and they both lifted up to allow April to pull her arms to her tingling ribs, releasing the tension in her aching shoulders, the strain caused by her struggles for freedom.  
"Truce," Maia proposed.

"Truce," Diana agreed. Still giggling, April nodded her assent. Maia flopped across both their laps, going almost directly to sleep. Diana stroked her head, heart filled with love for her daughter. As April dropped off as well, her head fell onto Diana's shoulder. Diana leaned her head over onto April's, a faint smile on her lips before she, too, fell fast asleep.


End file.
